Aug 2012

Mid-South Amateur Radio Association - Club Meeting Minutes August 2, 2012

Location: Northeast Police Precinct (Appling Farms Parkway) 6850 Whitten Bend Cove, Memphis, TN 38133

Attendance: President Dennis Foster (KJ4BDU), Vice-President Roger Schlichter (WR4R), Secretary Linda Ware (KJ4ELL), Board members: Lance Morris (N4GMT), Ned Savage (KA4BLL), Danny Banks (KJ4FXZ). Total membership attendance approx. 22.

Welcome: Meeting called to order by Dennis (KJ4BDU) at 7:00 p.m. Thanks to everyone for attending. Introductions; introductory comments.

Minutes from previous club meeting motioned (Lance N4GMT), seconded (Pat W4OQG), and accepted as posted on MARA website. Printed copies of previous month’s minutes and Treasurer’s report are always available at sign-in table. Treasurer's report (June1 through July 31, 2012) read by Dennis Foster, motioned (Ron K3RON), seconded (Roger WR4R), and accepted by attending membership (viva voce).

Announcements:

FIELD DAY was an enjoyable success. Total points: 1976, as compiled by Randy VanVoorhis (W4RMV). Approximately 116 people signed in. Many thanks to Tony (WA4KHN) for his consistent hard work and use of the club house, and thanks to Lance and everyone who worked to make this year’s FIELD DAY the enjoyable success it was!

See Joe (WA4OVO) if you want to be included on the Huntsville bus trip August 18^th. Congratulations to Joe, named Instructor of the Year.

Congratulations to two new hams attending their first meeting, licensed today: Ann-Barri (KK4KUI) and Donna (KK4KUV). Welcome!

Old Business:

Follow up on club patches by Dennis (KJ4BDU). Samples were passed around to view. Ken Laseter (KI4AOH) will follow up with further research with a company he knows about.

Follow up on increased insurance coverage … Request was previously made by Denise Ganucheau (KJ5DG) to research cost/advantages of adding Officers’ & Directors’ coverage to the club’s current liability insurance policy. Provisions in current policy were discussed in detail and further researched information was provided to the club by Roger and Denise. The work on this issue is greatly appreciated. The end result is that our current coverage is sufficient at this time, and the matter should be reviewed again in 2 or 3 years.

New Business:

FIELD DAY, June 29-30, 2013. It was brought up (Dennis KJ4BDU, Richard K4DXF, John AJ4AT, Danny KJ4FXZ) and agreed to by others that the planning should begin much sooner for next year, using the club house location/amenities as the “bar” or standard criteria to be met if we use a different location. “Antenna friendly” is imperative. Also, discussion followed about networking the log-in computers.

We need to put together a letter of appreciation from the club to Tom Medlin (W5KUB) for his live webcasts this year of FREEFEST and our FIELD DAY events.

Regular club meetings for the rest of this year will be held at various locations, not at the precinct. September will be at Patrick’s (details below). October has not been finalized yet. November will be at LeBonheur. December will be the Christmas party at Coletta’s.

Dennis inquired about interest in a possible future program on satellite communications. The subject was well-received.

Program:

Slide show presentation of Field Day (June 23-24) 2012, which was held at the MARA club house location in Country Club Estates, at 2417 Lacosta Drive, Bartlett, TN. MARA, Delta Club, and Tri-State Repeater Association all participated together this year. Also, pictures from the Olive Branch Field Day exercise were shown. Thanks to Dennis Foster and Ken Laseter for the great show, and again to everyone who worked to make FIELD DAY 2012 a very successful event.

Motion to adjourn by Roger (WR4R), seconded by Danny (KJ4FXZ) and meeting adjourned by Dennis (KJ4BDU) at 8:00 p.m.

Notes:

Next regular club meeting is an “eating/meeting” September 6^th at Patrick’s Steaks & Spirits, 4972 Park Avenue, Memphis, TN 38117. Link with menu and directions to restaurant is on the maraonline.org home page . http://patricksmemphis.net/

NOTE: EARLIER TIME 6:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Secretary Linda Ware (KJ4ELL)